About This Book

Searching for "The One"? This fun new book about dating — whether it sparked a lifelong love or a laugh with friends — will give you a boost as you search for your soul mate. Read these 101 stories about how couples met, good and bad dates, maintaining the relationship, second chances, the Internet, and all the ups and downs of dating, love, and romance. For men and women from 21 to 91.

More from Chicken Soup for the Soul

Inspired by Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Dating Game by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Amy Newmark

Your soul mate is out there if you look. And you never know who or what will bring you together. Men and women of all ages share their dating stories — the good, the bad, and the funny — in these 101 stories about looking for love. Here are five tips to inspire you in your search for fairytale romance.

1. Listen to the people who know you best. Magazine reporter Amy Gray Light did not like the architect she had to interview — he wasn’t nice to her on the phone. But when he called and apologized, things between them warmed up, and they even flirted! They started speaking every day and eventually made plans to meet. "My heart did an actual flip-flop," Amy says about the first time she saw her now-husband. As it turned out, her editor-in-chief had given her the assignment as a set-up in the first place!

2. Try, try again. Love-struck, David Martin forgot all of his dating rules when he met Cheryl. While David certainly gave Cheryl a date she’d never forget, it wasn’t the "can’t-miss date" he wanted. After dinner, David took Cheryl to a special showing of Apocalypse Now. The date did not end well, and David didn’t get the second date he asked for a few days later. Five years later, the two reconnected and Cheryl gave him another chance. "We’ve now been married for almost twenty years," David writes, "and I expect we’ll be together for twenty more. So long as I don’t rent a copy of Apocalypse Now."

3. Don’t be afraid to let them see you at your worst. College junior Thomas Schonhardt was still recovering from a brutal assault when he fell for a girl in his Spanish class — Laura. He texted a friend and said he had seen the woman he was going to marry. They started spending time together and "Laura was nothing but attentive and supportive," Thomas says, despite his disfigurement and his constant reconstructive facial surgeries. "I worried that the romance I had begun to develop with Laura would be over," he writes. But Laura stayed by his side. "It became clear to me that she was going to be there till the end, no matter what," Thomas writes. When he proposed, she said "Yes!"

4. When one door closes, look for an open one. Frustrated with her perpetually late and often absent boyfriend, Heather Davis gave him one last chance as she waited for him at church — if he wasn’t the next person to walk through the door, it was over. He was a no-show but the man who did come through the door was a guy Heather had known from college. He had recently moved to her town. They started talking after the service, and he stayed for the potluck lunch. "Within a few weeks, my church became our church," Heather writes. "And nine months later, it was where we hosted our wedding reception."

5. Bring your sense of humor. Things started to go wrong for teenage Daniel James before he even picked up his dream date. Breath mints had turned his mouth green, and he was so nervous that sweat stained the armpits of his carefully ironed shirt. So, he greeted his date with a tight-lipped smile and an awkward handshake, his elbows tucked to his side. Still self-conscious, Daniel spoke tight-lipped for most of their 40-mile drive. Then just as he started to relax, Daniel had to swerve to avoid a deer. The SUV — borrowed from his father — tipped onto its side. The teens climbed out unhurt, and Daniel’s date jumped to the ground… right into a pool of water. At this point, Daniel could only laugh. Maybe it was how he faced disaster, but whatever it was, Daniel’s date obviously saw something in him. "Fate takes unexpected turns," he says. "Eventually she became my wife."